4 Years in the Making: My Initial Thoughts on Lorde's "Virgin"

lorde, what was that?

Lorde is undeniably one of the most mysterious of the pop girls.

She releases an album once every four years, does a little bit of promotion, goes on tour, and then seemingly disappears. You would think this habit would cause her to fade into irrelevance, but on the contrary, whenever Lorde resurfaces, it is always a moment in pop culture.

Ella Yelich-O’Connor, who goes under the stage name Lorde, first came onto the scene in 2013 with the hugely successful hit, Royals. She was only 16 years old at the time. After releasing a short EP called The Love Club in early 2013, Lorde’s debut album, Pure Heroine, arrived later that same year. Pure Heroine, for a debut album, was well received. It was commercially successful, even being nominated for a Grammy, but this album was particularly favoured amongst teens, with it being one of the Tumblr albums™.¹ However, Lorde’s next project didn’t come until four years later in 2017, with her sophomore album, Melodrama.

Melodrama is undeniably Lorde’s most critically acclaimed work. It is regarded by many as one of the best pop records of recent times. It is an immersive and extremely cathartic listening experience, and despite being only 11 tracks long, each track serves a purpose. It is an album with no dead weight. Whatever album came next was inevitably going to have a tough time following that act. But again, in true Lorde fashion, her next album didn’t come until another four years, with 2021’s Solar Power.

Solar Power was panned by critics and music listeners alike, and even some fans. Not me, though. I love Solar Power. In the days leading up to Virgin, I re-listened to Lorde’s first three albums to reacquaint myself, and I had a great time listening to Solar Power. I still don’t understand what everyone was complaining about. It contains many of my favourites from Lorde² and it’s a great summer album. Was the environmentalist aspect a little annoying? Maybe. I can understand why one wouldn’t want to get lectured about carbon footprints by a celebrity. But I found nothing wrong with the actual music.

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Yet again, we had to wait four years for this new project. On the 30th of April, Lorde announced her fourth studio album would be called Virgin. An intriguing title with an even more intriguing cover, which includes an x-ray of Lorde’s pelvic bone. Both the cover and the title represent the vulnerability of this project. Having now heard the album, this is undoubtedly the most vulnerable album of Lorde’s, and also daresay the most all over the place emotionally. Before we get into the actual music, I feel the need to preface that this isn’t a review. In order for it to be that, I would need to have spent time fully processing and digesting the album. Which I obviously haven’t, because it’s been four days. Rather, this is only my initial first thoughts and feelings of the project. It is highly likely some of these opinions will change with time.

Virgin album cover

The album opens with the third single, Hammer. Of all the new songs, this one feels the most classic Lorde to me. I love the strange sounds at the start. I love the euphoria of the post-chorus; it reminds me of Green Light in that sense. In the lyrics, she ties in the concept of reinvention, saying: “I might have been born again. I’m ready to feel like I don’t have the answers.” The idea of rebirth comes up at multiple points throughout the record. Burning everything and starting again is something Lorde has the tendency to do, as seen on both Melodrama, Solar Power, and now Virgin. Sonically, Hammer reminds me of Pure Heroine. The weird sounds in the beginning somewhat remind me of 400 Lux.

Track 2 is the lead single, What Was That. I still think this is an album highlight. It’s everything Lorde does best: A messy break-up song that builds and builds into a cathartic release of emotions (again, may I present you to the best song ever made, Green Light). Making this the lead single was the right choice. The first new track is Shapeshifter. Sonically, this is unlike anything Lorde’s ever done before, and I’m still deciding how I feel about it. I wasn’t crazy about it on first listen, but I can feel it slowly growing on me. Even though she’s talking about being a shapeshifter in terms of how she chops and changes in relationships, I think shapeshifter is an accurate term to describe Lorde overall when looking at how often she completely changes her personality; and again, it brings up ideas surrounding reinvention and rebirth.

from the “what was that” music video.

Track 4 is the second single, Man of the Year. I’ve had an interesting journey with this song. On first listen, it felt unfinished to me. The production is very minimal, and once it finally picks up, the song ends. I felt like half the song was missing. But the more time I’ve spent with it, the more it’s grown on me. I love the gradual, subtle build. On this track, Lorde builds on what she first mentioned in her Rolling Stone interview, which is that she’s had moments of feeling her gender broadening over the last year or so. As she says on Hammer: “Some days I’m a woman, some days I’m a man.”

Track 5, Favourite Daughter, is my current favourite. If you don’t like this song, then I guess you’ve never been a chronic people pleaser living for the praise and approval of others. I find it really interesting how Lorde speaks so highly of her mother in this song while simultaneously admitting how much her need to please her weighs her down. She notes how her mother was her very first fan; her #1 supporter from the beginning. Everything she’s done, everything she’s achieved in her career, it was all just to make her mother proud. As she says, “breaking my back just to be your favourite daughter.”

I particularly love it when she changes that line to, “look at the medals I won for ya, so you could imagine being a favourite daughter.” Ah, the joys of generational trauma. Lorde’s grandmother didn’t show much pride in her mother, no matter how well she did, so now Lorde’s mum makes sure to be present in Lorde’s career and show her pride while still holding her to high standards, without realising the pressure this puts on Lorde. Lorde’s mum gets to make her mum proud through her own daughter. And when she sees Lorde up on that stage performing to thousands, she can live vicariously through her and imagine what it would be like to be the favourite. This is such a complex and layered song and I may never shut up about it.

Then we have what is, for me at least, the first miss. You may remember that when Lorde’s Rolling Stone interview came out a few weeks ago, she found herself in hot water for a comment she made about getting high and watching the leaked tape between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. The tape that was made public without Anderson’s consent, and something she has described as an extremely traumatic experience for her, not only because of it leaking to the entire world, but also because her relationship with Lee was a toxic and abusive one. Lorde said: “I found it so beautiful. And maybe it’s fucked up that I watched it, but I saw two people that were so in love with each other, and there was this purity (…) they were so free.”

I’d be lying if I said that moment didn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth. It’s one thing to admit to watching something that is essentially revenge porn, it’s another thing to describe it as beautiful, pure, and free. The annoying thing is Lorde even acknowledges it’s probably a messed up thing for her to say, which is correct, yet she says it anyway. But Lorde has a history of putting her foot in her mouth, so I was willing to let it go. Skip ahead to album release day, when I clicked play on Current Affairs. Already, I wasn’t vibing much with the song, but as soon as it got to the second verse and I heard, “all alone in my room, watching the tape of their honeymoon,” and I realised what she was referring to, I immediately cringed. She goes on, again, to describe it as ‘pure and true.’ I hate to say that one verse ruins the entire song for me, but it does.

I’ve seen Lorde fans trying to defend her for this, and I’m not going to be one of them. Am I still a fan of Lorde? Yes. She’s been one of the most influential artists in my life and her music means a lot to me. Am I still an overall fan of the album? Yes. But I’d be lying if I said this didn’t alter my perception of her slightly. I used to think of Lorde as a fairly humble and grounded celebrity for someone of her stature, but this entire situation screams out of touch to me.

Moving on from that rant, we then have Clearblue, which is more of an interlude. This is easily the most personal and raw song on the album, maybe even Lorde’s entire discography. In the lyrics, Lorde recounts the time she had to take a pregnancy test. There’s much to mine in the lyrics, but my favourite is: “There’s broken blood in me, it passed through my mother from her mother down to me.” Again, she’s tying in themes of generational trauma. Sonically, it is extremely reminiscent of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek (aka, the “mmm, whatcha say?” song), in the sense that there’s no production, just layered vocals. It’s interesting lyrically, but do I think I’ll find myself returning to it much? Probably not.

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Next is GRWM, which actually stands for “grown woman,” not get ready with me, which many of us assumed (myself included). This isn’t one of my favourites either. However, there is yet another reference to generational trauma, when she says she has her “mama’s trauma.” I just don’t get much from this song, but it may grow on me. On my first listen, Lorde was starting to lose me with the three track run of Current Affairs, Clearblue, and GRWM, so I was getting scared. Thankfully, she brings it home in the final three songs.

Broken Glass is another standout. This is another devestatingly vulnerable song and one that is, unfortunately, relatable for many. Lorde first opened up about her struggles with body image and disordered eating in her Rolling Stone interview, and this song explores that in further detail. The metaphor of this song is so clever. She wants to punch the mirror both because she hates looking at herself, but also because she wants to break free. There’s a superstition around breaking a mirror, that it gives you 7 years of bad luck.

If Lorde continues in this cycle and doesn’t break the glass, she’ll get to continue feeding this part of her brain telling her she needs to live this way. If she breaks free by smashing the glass, what if she ends up worse off? What if she ends up cursed with bad luck? Or… what if… it’s simply just broken glass? Nothing more? Such a genius way to articulate the way our brains try to trick us. I also love the tie in back to What Was That, when she says: “I cover up all the mirrors, I can’t see myself yet.” Lorde’s verse on Charli xcx’s Girl, so confusing hits so much harder now.

The penultimate track of the album is If She Could See Me Now. Putting this confident, self-loving anthem right after Broken Glass is so symbolic. She’s letting us know: She broke the glass. I love the comedic cockiness of this song; “I’m a mystic, I swim in waters that would drown so many other bitches,” makes me giggle every time. Now that’s the Lorde I know and love. I’m obsessed with the idea of talking to your younger self, and knowing how proud they’d be if they could see where you are now. This may just be my new go-to song when I wanna be uplifted.

And finally, we have come to the last track, David. Ouch. This song is painful. In the first verse, she references the title of the record, saying: “if I’d had virginity, I would have given that too.” She truly would have given everything to this person. And they took advantage of her. There is so much power in the line, “once I could sing again, I swore I’d never let myself sing again for you,” especially given the context of who the song is likely about. The lyric, “I made you God because that was all I knew how to do,” once again ties into Lorde’s people pleasing tendancies from Favourite Daughter, and her need for praise and approval from others. I have no idea why, but the way this song is written reminds me of Phoebe Bridgers’ writing style. A stellar way to end the album.

I’m glad I haven’t yet seen anyone accusing Lorde of “reheating Melodrama’s nachos,” as the kids would say. People were saying that after What Was That, which I felt was unfair. This doesn’t feel anything like Melodrama to me, it feels completely different to anything she’s done before. If anything, if I had to point to the album of hers it most resembles sonically, it would be Pure Heroine (which is funny, given the reference on David). I had never heard of Jim-E Stack before this, and he was a change from Lorde’s usual producers of Joel Little and Jack Antonoff, but I’m always in support of artists branching out and trying new producers. It always adds a breath of freshness to the work.

I’m not quite sure yet where this record fits in the ranks of Lorde’s albums, only time will tell, but do I think it’ll ever top the likes of Melodrama? No. I believe Melodrama will forever be her magnum opus, and that’s okay. There’s this expectation for artists that every new album they put out has to be better than the last, but I think that’s only restricting, and quite frankly, a silly way to think about art.

The last thing I will say is this is an incredibly introspective record. Lorde is truly letting the world see the inside of her psyche with this one. So many artists these days put out albums just for the sake of putting out an album. Lorde is not like that. Lorde is the kind of artist who only ever puts out an album when she has something to say, and that’s something I respect about her.

See y’all in four years (2029?!?!) for the next one.

1. Pure Heroine by Lorde, Born to Die by Lana Del Rey, Badlands by Halsey, Electra Heart by Marina: the four horsemen of Tumblr albums.

2. Stoned at the Nail Salon, Fallen Fruit, Mood Ring, The Path, Oceanic Feeling, Solar Power, The Man With the Axe… Hello?! Top tier songs.